Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/50—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications
  • A61B6/502—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/46—Arrangements for interfacing with the operator or the patient
  • A61B6/461—Displaying means of special interest
  • A61B6/463—Displaying means of special interest characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/46—Arrangements for interfacing with the operator or the patient
  • A61B6/461—Displaying means of special interest
  • A61B6/466—Displaying means of special interest adapted to display 3D data
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/52—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for radiation diagnosis
  • A61B6/5211—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for radiation diagnosis involving processing of medical diagnostic data
  • A61B6/5229—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for radiation diagnosis involving processing of medical diagnostic data combining image data of a patient, e.g. combining a functional image with an anatomical image
  • A61B6/5235—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for radiation diagnosis involving processing of medical diagnostic data combining image data of a patient, e.g. combining a functional image with an anatomical image combining images from the same or different ionising radiation imaging techniques, e.g. PET and CT
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T3/00—Geometric image transformations in the plane of the image
  • G06T3/40—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/02—Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
  • A61B6/025—Tomosynthesis
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/02—Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
  • A61B6/03—Computed tomography [CT]
  • A61B6/032—Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/48—Diagnostic techniques
  • A61B6/486—Diagnostic techniques involving generating temporal series of image data
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/10—Image acquisition modality
  • G06T2207/10016—Video; Image sequence
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/10—Image acquisition modality
  • G06T2207/10116—X-ray image
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
  • G06T2207/30004—Biomedical image processing
  • G06T2207/30068—Mammography; Breast

Definitions

• TITLE METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING PRE-SCALED IMAGES FOR A
• the embodiments described herein relate to a system and method for image analysis and more particularly a system and method for generating a pre-scaled image for at least one mammography image of an image series.
• Medical personnel e.g. radiologists
• mammography images to diagnose various abnormalities in a breast.
• medical personnel desire to review the mammography image displaying a breast (i.e. the breast image), with little regard to any of the background.
• medical personnel are primarily interested in the breast area, it is highly desirable to extract this breast area and display it at an optimal and consistent scale across all displayed images. That is, medical personnel seek mammography systems that facilitate quickly generated diagnostic reviews of mammography images, and allow for convenient navigation and review between views of a medical imaging data set while maintaining the same presentation state, including for example the scale factor, across all of the images in the views.
• a breast window for a breast image is considered to be the smallest region that encloses all of the tissue points of a breast shown on mammography image.
• a breast window may be characterized by the size of the region as well as the location of the region within the mammography image.
• the mammography system may also define a breast window that contains an optimal part of a breast image and displays it optimally scaled (herein referred to as a "pre-scaled image”) such that the defined breast window fills the entirety of the viewing area of the mammography system.
• pre-scaled image optimally scaled
• a plurality of mammography images from a single modality may be considered to be an image series (also referred to as a series of mammography images).
• Newer modalities such as x-ray tomosynthesis or computed tomography imaging modalities, produce "volume-based" mammography images, which for example, may comprise a plurality of two-dimensional images stacked in series.
• Volume-based images are generated by first, processing traditional two-dimensional images to render additional images which may show the breast at different angles. These images are then used to generate the volume-based images in an image series.
• Medical personnel may view all images of an image series together by generating an overview image, or by obtaining an overview image from a modality. Wherein the overview image shows all or a subset of, tissue points from each image in the image series on a single two-dimensional image.
• a method for generating a pre-scaled image for at least one mammography image of a series the series containing a plurality of mammography images, each mammography image displaying a breast having tissue points.
• the method comprising: obtaining an overview breast window, wherein the overview breast window encloses all tissue points; adjusting, if required, the overview breast window, for example in size, position, orientation or alignment, and storing it as an image breast window, applying the image breast window to apportion each image in the series, creating a breast window image; and rendering the pre-scaled image based on the breast window image for each image in the image series.
• the system comprising: a database memory for storing the overview breast window; and, a processor coupled to the database memory and configured to obtain an overview breast window, wherein the overview breast window encloses all tissue points, adjusting the overview breast window, for example in size, position, orientation or alignment, and storing the adjusted overview breast window as an image breast window, applying the image breast window to apportion each image in the series to create a breast window image, and rendering the pre-scaled image based on the breast window image.
• FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a mammography system
• FIG. 1 B is a schematic illustration of an image breast window and depth for a given plurality of mammography images
• FIG. 1 C is a data flow diagram illustrating the process that is used for generating a pre-scaled image for at least one mammography image of a series within the mammography system of FIG. 1A;
• FIG. 2A is a flowchart diagram illustrating the steps of a method for generating a pre-scaled image within the mammography system of FIG. A;
• FIG. 2B is a flowchart diagram illustrating the steps of a method for obtaining an overview breast window within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A;
• FIG. 2C is a flowchart diagram illustrating the steps of a method for defining and storing an overview breast window and defining breast window images within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A;
• FIG. 2D is a flowchart diagram illustrating the steps of a method for obtaining an overview image within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A;
• FIG. 2E is a flowchart diagram illustrating the steps for a method of defining an image breast window for at least one mammography image of a series within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A;
• FIG. 3A is a schematic illustration of an overview image for a plurality of mammography images within the mammography system of FIG. 1A;
• FIG. 3B is a schematic illustration of an overview breast window for an overview image within the mammography system of FIG. 1A;
• FIG. 3C is a schematic illustration of an overview breast window for a mammography image compared to an image breast window defined for the individual mammography image within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A;
• FIG. 3D is a schematic illustration of an overview breast window for a mammography image compared to an image breast window defined for the individual mammography image within the mammography system of FIG. 1A;
• FIG. 3E is a schematic illustration of a pre-scaled image for a mammography image of an image series within the mammography system of FIG. 1 A.
• the embodiments of the systems and methods described herein may be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of both. However, preferably, these embodiments are implemented in computer programs executing on programmable computers each comprising at least one module component which comprises at least one processor (e.g. a microprocessor), a data storage system (including volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device.
• the programmable computers (referred to below as computing devices) may be a personal computer, laptop, personal data assistant, and cellular telephone, smart-phone device, tablet computer, and/or wireless device.
• Program code is applied to input data to perform the functions described herein and generate output information.
• the output information is applied to one or more output devices, in known fashion.
• Each program is preferably implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming and/or scripting language to communicate with a computer system.
• the programs can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.
• Each such computer program is preferably stored on a storage media or a device (e.g. ROM or magnetic diskette) readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer, for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described herein.
• the subject system may also be considered to be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where the storage medium so configured causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner to perform the functions described herein.
• the system, processes and methods of the described embodiments are capable of being distributed in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium that bears computer usable instructions for one or more processors.
• the medium may be provided in various forms, including one or more diskettes, compact disks, tapes, chips, wireline transmissions, satellite transmissions, internet transmission or downloadings, magnetic and electronic storage media, digital and analog signals, and the like.
• the computer useable instructions may also be in . various forms, including compiled and non-compiled code.
• an embodiment means “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the present invention(s),” unless expressly specified otherwise.
• Mammography system 100 may contain a processor 102 that is operatively coupled to memory 104.
• Memory 104 may store a breast window module 120 for defining an overview breast window 380 or image breast window 385 n applied on a plurality of images 300-I to 300 electron (where 300i represents a first image and 300 n represents an n th image and 385 n represents the image breast window corresponding to the image), a rendering module 10 for rendering new volume based image series from an existing image series or a new overview image 350 from an existing image series (e.g.
• the storage module 130 may also store other data such as for example, an overview image 350.
• Images 300i to 300 n stored on image database 140 may be mammography images.
• images 300i to 300 n may be images obtained directly from a modality, overview images, or rendered images (e.g. multi-planar reformatted images), including volume-based images.
• FIG. 1 B therein illustrated is a schematic diagram of the volume-based pre-scaled images 395i to 395 n for an image series 310 which contains a plurality of images 300-I to 300 n (where 300 ! represents a first image and 300 n represents an n th image, and 395i represents a pre-scaled image for the first mammography image 300i, and 395 n represents a pre-scaled image for the n th mammography image 300 n ).
• a breast window image 390i... n is rendered for each corresponding image 300i.,.n of the image series 310.
• the volume-based image has a depth 330, which is the distance between the first image 300i and the last image 300 n when the images are in spatial order.
• Images 300i to 300 n may be processed to generate another plurality of images 300! to 300 m showing, for example, the breast at different angles with different slice thicknesses, etc.
• Images series 310 may be obtained directly from a modality or generated from an existing series.
• Overview image 350 is generated from or obtained for the image series 310, and represents all or a subset of, images contained in the series.
• An overview breast window 380 is defined for the overview image 350 as a portion of the overview image, for example a rectangular shape, that contains all, or a subset of, the projected tissue points inside the overview image 350.
• the overview breast window 380 is then used to create the image breast windows 385 n .
• This process may include adjustments, for example, for differences in size, position, alignment or orientation, for each image represented in the overview image.
• Each breast window image 390 n is the image resulting from cropping each image represented in the overview image by the boundary defined by the image breast window 385 n .
• the breast window images 390i... n are then used to generate pre-scaled images 395 ⁇ .., ⁇ for each image, 300i... n , in image series 310.
• the pre-scaled image is automatically adjusted, for example, by scaling, panning, flipping, or rotating, to consistently render each image in an image series.
• breast window module 120 may be configured to receive notifications that one of a plurality of images, 300i...n, is ready for breast window definition. For each image 300i... n used to create the overview image 350, the system generates a corresponding image breast windows 385i... n , breast window images 390i... neighbor, and pre-scaled images 395i... n .
• the breast window module 120 may define an overview breast window 380 around an overview image 350.
• An overview breast window 380 is considered to be the smallest region (for example, a rectangle in one example embodiment) that encloses all, or a subset of, the tissue points of a breast displayed on a mammography image.
• the breast window module 120 may send notifications after it has defined an overview breast window 380 or image breast window 385 n .
• an overview breast window may be defined by the size of the region enclosing all or some of the tissue points or by the location coordinates of the region within the image.
• Rendering module 110 may be configured to receive notifications to render a pre-scaled image 395 n .
• the rendering module 110 may render a pre-scaled image 395 n from the breast window image 390 n for each image in the image series 310.
• the pre-scaled image 395 n is rendered then mapped to the entirety of the viewing area in a consistent manner across all the viewing areas.
• the system may elect to render a subset of pre-scaled images.
• Rendering module 110 may also receive notification to render an overview image 350 (FIG. 3B).
• the overview image 350 may be rendered based on the images of an image series 310.
• An overview image 350 contains overview tissue points 370 and an overview breast boundary 360 that runs along the border of the overview tissue points 370.
• Each overview tissue point 370 within the overview image 350 has corresponding tissue point (e.g. 320i and 320 2 in FIGS. 3C and 3D) in the mammography images within a given image series.
• the rendering module 110 may send notifications after it has rendered a pre- scaled image 395 n or an overview image 350.
• Storage module 130 may be configured to receive notifications to store objects. When storage module 130 receives notification that the overview breast window 380 is defined, storage module 130 may store the overview breast window 380, or the image breast window 385 n , in the database 140.
• Storage module 130 may also store the overview breast window 380 in the database 140 as the image breast window for each image in the series.
• Database 140 may store a plurality of images 300i to 300 n and breast windows, for example, an overview breast window 380 or image breast windows 385 n , and may be implemented using any database software or persistent storage method known in the art.
• database 140 may be implemented using Oracle®, Microsoft SQL Server® or IBM DB2® with suitably defined schemas to identify and navigate images.
• database 140 may be part of a Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) deployment, such as those found in a hospital.
• PPS Picture Archiving and Communication Systems
• database 140 is illustrated as residing in the same memory as mammography system 100, it will be understood that database 140 may be stored and accessed remotely through a network connection, for example, using a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) protocol. In such case, it will be further understood that the operations of the rendering module 110, breast window module 120, and storage module 130 may be performed locally on the mammography system, remotely on the system where the database 140 resides, or on a third-party system configured to access database 140 and mammography system 100.
• DICOM Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
• FIGS. 1A, 1 B, 1C, 2A and FIGS. 3A to FIG. 3E illustrate steps of a method 200 for generating a pre-scaled image 395 n for at least one mammography image 300 n of an image series 310.
• the pre-scaled image may be generated based on images obtained from two dimensional images, or volume-based images.
• the image series 310 is identified and an overview breast window 380 associated with the image series 310 is obtained.
• the rendering module 110 at step (220) may render the pre-scaled image 390 n using the overview breast window 380.
• FIGS. 1A, 1 B, 1 C, 2B and FIGS. 3A to FIG. 3D illustrate steps of a method 210 for obtaining an overview breast window 380.
• the overview breast window 380 may be located and retrieved from the database memory 140. If not, then at step (240) the breast window module 120 may define an overview breast window 380 and the storage module 130 may store the overview breast window 380 in the database memory. The overview breast window 380 may have been defined in the process of viewing another image of the same series.
• FIGS. A, 1 B, 1 C, 2C and FIGS. 3A to FIG. 3D illustrate steps of a method 240 for defining and storing an overview breast window 380, and defining an image breast window 385 n and breast window image 390 n .
• an overview image 350 associated with the image series 310 may initially be obtained.
• the breast window module 120 may define an overview breast window 380 at step (260) for the overview image 350.
• the overview breast window 380 may be stored in the database memory 140.
• the overview breast window 380 may be stored in the database memory 140 as the breast window associated with each mammography image in the image series 310.
• an image breast window 385i... n may be defined for each image in the image series.
• a breast window image 390 ⁇ ,... ⁇ may be defined for each image in the series.
• FIGS. 1A, 1 B, 1C, 2D and FIGS. 3A to FIG. 3D illustrate steps of a method 250 for obtaining an overview image 350.
• the overview image 350 may be located and retrieved from the database memory 140.
• rendering module 110 at step (290) may render an overview image 350.
• the overview image 350 is rendered based on the images series 310.
• Rendering may be performed using any known method for rendering an overview image for a given plurality of mammography images (e.g. a slabbing technique).
• the rendering module 110 may send notification to the breast window module 120 that an overview image 350 is ready for breast window definition at step (260).
• the storage module 130 may store the overview image 350 in the image database 140.
• FIG. 1A, B, 1 C, 2E and FIGS. 3A to FIG. 3D which illustrates the steps of method 271 for defining and storing an image breast window 390i... n for each image, 300i... n , in an image series 310.
• the breast window module 120 checks if overview breast window requires adjustment, for example, to scale or position, and it is adjusted at step (263) if adjustment is required. Once adjusted, the image breast window 385 n is derived based on the adjusted values of the overview breast window 380.
• the definition of the overview breast window 380 for the overview image 350 may be performed using any known method for defining a breast window for a breast image. If no adjustment is required, the values of the overview breast window are inherited to derive the image breast window 385 n at step (262).
• the image breast window 385 is stored for each image in an image series 310.
• the breast window module 120 may send the overview breast window 380 to the storage module 130.
• FIG. 3A illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary series of mammography images 310, where the image series 310 comprise mammography images 300i and 300 2 stored on image database 140.
• Each of the mammography images contains tissue points 320i and 320 2 .
• Rendering module 110 (at step (290) of FIG. 2D) generates an overview image 350 based on mammography images 300i and 300 2 wherein each mammography image tissue point 320i and 320 2 of mammography images 300i and 300 2 is represented by an overview tissue points 370i and 370 2 in the overview image 350.
• the overview image 350 may be stored on image database 140.
• FIG. 3B illustrates a schematic diagram of an overview image 350 stored on image database 140.
• the overview image 350 comprises an overview tissue point 370 and an overview breast boundary 360 formed along the border of the overview tissue point.
• the breast window module 120 (at step (260) of FIG. 2C) defines an overview breast window 380 by identifying the smallest region (e.g. a rectangle in one embodiment) that encloses all (as it is defined by an algorithm used) of the overview tissue point 370.
• the smallest region e.g. a rectangle in one embodiment
• FIG. 3E which illustrates a schematic diagram of a pre-scaled image 395 n , for an image 300 n from image series 310.
• the image 300 n is stored on image database 140 along with the corresponding image breast window 385 n .
• the breast window module 120 (at step (260) of FIG. 2C) defines the image breast window 385 n by adjusting, if necessary, the overview breast window 380.
• FIG. 3D which illustrates a schematic diagram of the image breast window 385i for the mammography images 300i and 300 2 of FIG. 3A.
• the storage module 130 (at step (270) of FIG. 2C) stores the overview breast window 380 for the images series 310.
• the overview breast window 380 is an approximation of the smallest region that encloses all of the tissue points 320i and 320 2 on the images 300i and 300 2 .
• the system would perform image processing on every image 300i to 300 n in order to determine the breast window 38 ⁇ and subsequently allow pre-scaled view image 300 2 with the breast window 381 2 .
• the method disclosed in the present invention of generating a pre-scaled image is not limited to two-dimensional images and may be used to generate a pre-scaled image as well.

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